Thread by @careyjans

The latest @HaydnKissick lab paper is out! I am delighted to have worked w/ my mentor, friend, and role model @JennyCarlisleMD as co-first authors to share our latest work in @JITC, detailing features of patients' peripheral and intratumoral response to #ICB in #RCC.

In this study, we study a cohort of 36 #RCC patients receiving immunotherapy at @WinshipAtEmory, and we find that following #ICB, patients often have an identifiable burst of activated T cells in their blood, demonstrated by coexpression of the activation markers CD38 and HLADR.

What was more interesting, though, is that patients with a strong burst in activated T cells also had a positive clinical response to immune checkpoint blockade, shown here by %change in target lesion size and by PFS.

We then wondered whether those patients with a strong peripheral immune response to ICB may also have a strong response in their original tumor.

We found that pts w/ a very immunologically active tumor at the time of surgery also tended to have a strong burst of activated T cells following ICB. Put simply, pts with an immunologically active tumor tended to remain so, even yrs later/after resection of the primary tumor.

Finally, having previously reported the presence of an organized intratumoral immune response—i.e. immune niches—to predict pt survival following surgery (bit.ly/3Bdsdgc), we also wondered whether this may also be true of the pts who exhibit a strong response to ICB.

Indeed, we found that this important feature—a significant presence of intratumoral immune niches—of an immunologically active tumor is maintained over time, that pts with a high density of immune niches at the time of surgery are also those who clinically benefit from ICB.

A huge thank you to many wonderful colleagues and friends most particularly and importantly without the kind contributions of our patients and their families, without whom this work would not be possible! @HaydnKissick @JennyCarlisleMD @virajmaster @bilenma @WinshipAtEmory

paper linked here!

https://twitter.com/jitcancer/status/1550212797103063042?s=20&t=XDpfEAy6ymxI0FDnSrHD3w

@threadreaderapp unroll please!

Our fab colleagues and co-authors: @Maria_Carden1 @nataliya_pro_ @EwelinaSobiera1 @s_wilkinson88 @sowalsky @virajmaster @bilenma @HaydnKissick @JennyCarlisleMD +several other twitterless friends!